Hydrodynamic stability of upward vertical annular dense-gas/liquid flow in a big pipe

• Grant number: 22/16561-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2023
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Transport Phenomena
• Principal Investigator: Oscar Mauricio Hernandez Rodriguez
• Grantee: Edson Orati da Silva
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07375-0 - CeMEAI - Center for Mathematical Sciences Applied to Industry, AP.CEPID

Abstract

The current complex energy supply requirements pose several significant challenges for society. On the one hand, there is the continuing need to extract oil and gas efficiently and responsibly, while on the other hand, there are new requirements related to the pursuit of "Net Zero", including Carbon Capture and Storage. In the pre-salt Brazilian offshore production scenario, there are unique complexities, such as extremely high pressures and a high volumetric fraction of carbon dioxide (CO2). Currently, CO2 is reinjected not only to maintain reservoir pressure, but also for CCS. Increasingly, sophisticated diagnostics are required to monitor and control operation and decrease the metrological uncertainty of in-situ measurement. These diagnoses depend, among other things, on predicting two-phase flow patterns. However, mathematical models of two-phase flow are adjusted or calibrated with databases that are incompatible with the pre-salt production condition. An experimental campaign is proposed to identify flow patterns of oil and gas mixtures in a 2-inch vertical line, with focus on evaluating the effect of gas density on flow patterns. The use of dense gas, sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), allows simulating similar pre-salt hydrodynamic flow conditions of oil and CO2 in the supercritical thermodynamic state. In particular, the hydrodynamic stability of the annular two-phase flow pattern will be studied and the similarities between dense-gas/liquid flow and liquid-liquid flow will be studied. More specifically, a region of the flow map will be explored, where, according to theoretical analyses, the inverted annular flow pattern may occur. The experimental work will be carried out in the recently inaugurated inclinable multiphase flow loop of LEMI, which was designed to study dense-gas/liquid flow.